SAN ANTONIO — When Indiana Pacers coach Frank Vogel, after his team lost to the Heat in the conference finals, told reporters that LeBron James is “the Michael Jordan of our era,” he was delivering equal parts blessing and curse.

James was suitably humbled and gracious about the comparison, but he might just as well let out a heaving sigh and an “Oh, brother.”

The NBA and its observer class have given up (blessedly so) on the search for the next Michael Jordan, but for James, probably more than anyone else, the Jordan shadow lingers uncomfortably. Case in point: When James left Miami’s Game 1 NBA Finals loss because of severe cramping on Thursday, the comparison to Jordan — who played through a severe illness in the 1997 Finals against Utah — came immediately. As so often happens, in the minds of many, James came up lacking against Jordan.

Look back just a little, you’ll get a sense of how unfair that is.

“It’s sad,” 18-year NBA veteran and Suns broadcaster Eddie Johnson told Sporting News. “The one thing I don’t like about my country is that we don’t appreciate greatness and live in it. We want to tear down, for whatever personal reasons we might have — whether it is envy or whatever it may be — anybody else who is great. We want to tear them down. That’s what happens to LeBron, every time.”

Johnson points out that our perception of Jordan has evolved over time, that James is not compared to the actual Jordan, but to our distorted memory of the guy. Now that we are more than two decades removed from the Bulls’ first championship, we might forget that at one time, Jordan suffered as many slings and arrows as James suffers now (and that he even had cramps from time to time).

When Jordan won the 1988 MVP award, after his Bulls had lost to the Pistons in the playoffs, one headline read, “Jordan Wins MVP Award, But It Doesn’t Have a Ring To It.” Later that year, a Chicago columnist noted that, “If I were starting a team, (Charles) Barkley or (Hakeem) Olajuwon would be my first choice. Jordan is, of course, a brilliant player. … But unlike most of the populace here, I am not enthralled with his style. He shoots too much.”

So, there was that. In case you forgot.

“People talk about Michael Jordan now like he was untouchable, like we didn’t tear Jordan down,” Johnson said. “Oh really? Michael Jordan’s first seven years, they ripped him to pieces. Even when he was winning championships, they were finding negative things about him. Why does he shoot so much? Why did he retire, why did he go play baseball? Why was he so hard on his teammates? He caught it, too.”

Fourteen-year league veteran David Wesley played with James in Cleveland in the 2006-07 season, and played against Jordan in the late '90s and early '00s. Wesley told SN that the desire of observers to cut down James for, essentially, not being Jordan is natural, but utterly misplaced. James’ game isn’t quite like Jordan’s at all, Wesley pointed out, saying Oscar Robertson, a deft passer, is a better comparison.

Just as the Chicago columnist complained about Jordan shooting too much, James takes his hits — for not shooting enough.

“I think it is unfair because LeBron is his own superstar,” Wesley said. “He is going to be compared to all-time players, in the greatest of all time conversation. But his game is really his own, I don’t think it is fair to compare him to Michael or anyone. … What is tough for LeBron is that, he is the superstar and everybody wants the superstar to do everything, to shoot all the time. But he is not that kind of player, it is not his mentality. He makes passes when he should make passes. He always gets criticized for it, and that is the thing that is probably most unfair. Sometimes people treat him like they’re going to criticize him for whatever he does. But he has two championships now, so I think that quiets some of it.”

Obviously, it’s not been entirely quieted. James himself acknowledged that he is one of the easiest targets in sports, and on Saturday, he had an astute observation about his level of scrutiny: One reason people poke at him is that he has been in front of the cameras since he was 15, and with exposure comes backlash. “Half of my life I’ve been in front of this,” James said. “So it makes me an easy target.”

From those who had long NBA careers, there was a general shaking of the head over the way James was discussed following the cramps that required him to be helped off the floor.

On his blog, 17-year veteran Dale Ellis wrote, “Can you believe all the conversation about LeBron? Cramps in the 4th quarter prevented the best player in basketball from finishing the game. How can anyone question LeBron not playing due to cramps and compare it to Michael Jordan playing with the flu? Nonsense. No one can play through cramps.”

Johnson echoed that sentiment: “It is amazing to me how people jump on whatever they can. Are you kidding? Cramps? These non-athletic people on Twitter, they’re writing about how LeBron needed to play. Ninety-nine percent of these people won’t go to work with a headache.”

Having played against some of the all-time greats — Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird — Johnson knows the Spurs can’t be too happy about the James chatter. James says he pays no attention to outside noise, but, no matter how thick his blinders, what is being said undoubtedly gets back to him.

“It is unfair, the criticism, and if I am San Antonio, I want everyone to stop talking about him,” Johnson said. “They’re the ones who are going to pay the price — because people are pissing him off, and I bet he can’t wait for Game 2.”